Chapter 7

It has been a month since I became the leader of the Dark Elf village and everything seemed to be going well. The village had fully recovered from the dragon's attack and Katar's betrayal, and except for the occasional monster attack, nothing else had happened.

I had spent this whole month training not only my skills, but I had also started practicing swordsmanship with Browen. I wasn't a great swordsman yet, but thanks to the Librarian's skills and diligent training I should be able to hold my own in a sword fight. I had even managed to acquire several Arts.

Arts are techniques performed by manipulating the user's innate aura and additional magical energy when needed. Arts, unlike magic, do not have to be chanted and usually have little to no cast time. Unlike abilities, they cannot be "acquired", only achieved through direct energy manipulation and training. That's what the Librarian said.

With the village secured, it was time for me to keep my promise to Huges.

"It is time for me to take a trip to Ingrasia." – I comment to Tuatha, while having breakfast.

After a month of coexistence and teamwork, Browen, Tuatha and I had a very close relationship. I considered them great friends and I was sure they could run the village in my absence.

"To keep your promise, Mr. Rogan?" – Tuatha asks me.

"Yes, and also to search for information about the mysterious island. In our current situation, our village can't progress because we shouldn't attract the attention of the Demon King Clayman. We need a safe place where we can turn the village into a city, maybe even a kingdom one day."

"I will prepare for a trip immediately." - Browen intervened.

"There's no need. I'll go alone." - I said.

"But Mr. Rogan, going alone can be dangerous. The Kingdom of Ingrasia has great ties to the Western Holy Church. If they find out that you are undead, they will attack you." – Tuatha warns me.

"Don't worry. I'll go with Huges's body. No one should be able to distinguish me as nothing more than a human."

"If that is your decision, we will respect it." – Tuatha relented. "When do you plan to leave?"

"When we finish this conversation."

Once we finished talking, I prepared to leave. I ordered Rogue to stay and protect the village, something he didn't seem too happy about.

And once everything was ready, I headed to the outskirts of the village and took my Wind Dragon form. The journey from Dwargon to Ingrasia would normally take six months on foot, but thanks to my speed as a Wind Dragon it would only take me a week to fly. So, I set out on my journey to Ingrasia.

A week after flying day and night, and following the Librarian's directions, I finally reached the outskirts of Lura, the royal capital of Ingrasia, and home of the Free Guild's HQ. Trying to enter the city in my Wind Dragon form was suicide, so I landed in the forest outside of the city and transformed into Huges.

The city of Lura was huge. A great wall completely surrounded the city, with two gates in it that allowed entry. As I approached the gates, large groups of people and caravans of merchants could be seen waiting to enter.

The gate had a strict check-in process. There were three levels of inspection for everyone who wanted to enter, at the first level they asked for your identification, and if everything was fine, they let you enter the city without any problem; if you could not produce any form of identification, you had to join the waiting line for the second inspection, which consisted of a physical search of you and your belongings; and if you failed the registration, you were sent to level three, where you were practically treated like a criminal.

Since I had taken the form of Huges, and Huges possessed an A-rank Adventurer ID, I had nothing to worry about.

"Documents please." – The guard at the entrance asked me.

I handed him my documents and waited for him to review them.

"Welcome back, Mr. Huges. Please come in." – The guard told me quickly after verifying my identification. It seemed that being an A-Rank Adventurer was a great achievement, and those who achieved it were treated like nobility in Ingrasia.

Finally, I entered Lura, and until now no one had discovered my true identity.

The city was huge and even more amazing, very advanced. Until now my only point of reference was the Dark Elf village, but I had theorized that this world had not developed technologically the same as my previous world, and although there were certainly no cars or even bicycles on the streets, the buildings they were tall, multi-storied, and made of cement and brick, and some even resembled the buildings of big cities like London and Japan.

The entire city seemed to be a great circle in the center of which stood an impressive castle, visible from all points of the city. It was evident that the city had incredible architects. I would have to pay a visit to the City Library and inquire about architecture and urbanization, if I wanted to turn the Dark Elf village into a city.

Throughout the city, standing guard at strategic locations, knights armed with fine armor and good quality weapons could be found. This constant guard, there was no doubt, was because, according to what Tuatha had told me, the city of Lura was home to the Council of the West, a cooperative organization formed by a group of countries located to the west of the Jura Forest. Initially, the Council was created as a collective effort to deal with the threat of monsters, and later shifted its focus to become a powerful force to balance the growing power of the Eastern Empire.

I decided to rent a room in one of the inns in the tourist quarter. I had some money that Tuatha had given me, for apparently when they fled from Clayman's domain they did not leave empty handed. So, I had about fifty gold coins, which I discovered, was a good amount of money.

While I was paying for my stay at the inn, I heard a rumor that the Great Jura Forest was being attacked by a great army of Orcs, led by an Orc Lord, a unique and terrible monster. According to the man who was speaking on the subject, the orcs had already razed a village of Ogres that lived in the forest. Reminding myself to find out more about this, I went out to enjoy the city

I walked around the city for a while, looking at everything it had to offer. I stopped for a while in the big arena of the city to see the fights that were shown. I then took a tour of the town's shops where I discovered one thing, I hadn't found in abundance in the Dark Elf village: paper. Although in the village there were books and some maps stolen from Clayman's domain, there was no paper to write on, which made it very difficult to keep the village accounts, so while I was at it, I bought a large sum paper and asked them to send it to the inn I was staying at. Many of the stores I visited even had glass windows where they displayed their products to attract customers. Obviously, this world was much more advanced than I initially believed.

I browsed the shops in town until it was late and returned to the inn. I didn't have to sleep thanks to being an undead creature, but walking at night in the city could be suspicious, and I wanted to stand out as little as possible, so I decided to rest for the rest of the night.

Very early the next day, I went to the headquarters of the Free Guild, to see this Yuuki. The building was a large multi-story modern structure, very different from the other medieval looking buildings. Right next to it, there was another building, much more beautiful and surrounded by statues. This must be one of the churches of the Western Holy Church, which worshiped the goddess Luminus, and condemned the monsters and the undead. It was best that I stayed away from that place.

The entrance to the Guild building was guarded by two large glass doors that, to my eternal surprise, opened automatically as soon as I approached them. Would they work with some kind of magic sensor or something? Once I entered, a beautiful and elegant woman welcomed me.

"Hello Hughes! Welcome back!" – The woman greeted me.

"Hello…" - beautiful woman whose name I don't know! But thank the gods, her secretary's uniform had a sign with her name on it. "...Lia, how's everything going?" – I improvised.

"Everything is normal." – She replied with a smile. "Are you here to see the Grand Master?"

"Yes. I have a report to give him."

"I'll go with you." - She said and took me to what seemed to be an elevator. Really? An elevator in this world? It was obvious that this Yuuki guy was from another world.

Once we got on the elevator, a magic circle appeared at our feet and we were transported to an office area.

"The Grand Master awaits you in his office." - She said and left before I could figure out a way to ask what office it was, without her realizing that I didn't know.

Fortunately, there seemed to be only one office on that floor, so I went to the door and knocked twice.

"Come in." – A voice told me from inside.

I entered and met the famous Yuuki Kagurazaka for the first time. He was quite handsome, with black hair and eyes, and he looked very young, as if he was still a teenager. He was smiling and seemed affable enough, but for some reason, I felt a chill on mi back when our eyes met.

"Hello Huges. Please sit down." – He told me. He continued once I sat down. "I was informed that you had returned to the city. Did you find out what was causing so many monsters to appear in Dragon's Peak?"

This was the moment I had planned to tell him who I really was. Telling him that I wasn't Huges, that I had been reincarnated into this world, and telling him my whole story… but for some reason every instinct in my body was telling me that doing so would be a mistake. Even when I asked the Librarian what he thought of Yuuki, all he said was...

Warning.

The target can not be analyze.

Caution is advised.

Even the Librarian thought this boy was dangerous. I had come to fulfill my promise to Huges, and I would, but I decided not to reveal to Yuuki who I really was. I would continue to act as Huges. I felt sorry for my old friend, but something didn't feel right with this boy.

"Yes. Apparently, there is some kind of giant Dragon in one of the caves surrounding Dragon's Peak. It seems to be locked inside some sort of barrier, but it expels large amounts of magicules, causing many strong monsters to spawn in the vicinity. I think the guild should send more people to investigate the creature." – I explained and with that I fulfilled my promise with Huges. I had reported the Chaos Dragon's presence, and accomplished his mission.

"A dragon you say? Yes, further investigation will be required. But tell me Huges, are you okay? You look a little weird." – He told me, and for a moment it was as if his black eyes could see through my shapeshifting to the real me.

"Ha ha ha, I'm fine, ¡Mr. Yuuki! Just a little tired from the trip." – I lied uncomfortably and got up to leave.

"Very well. Go and rest." – He said, although he gave me the feeling that he didn't believe me.

Trying to appear normal, I left the office and the guild building. As I replayed the conversation in my head on the way to the city, I realized what it was that had bothered me so much about Yuuki Kagurasaka. He seemed very friendly but somehow, even while smiling, his eyes remained empty of any emotion.

From the meeting I could only draw one conclusion.

There was something seriously wrong with Yuuki Kagurasaka.

Leaving my conversation with Yuuki behind, I decided to continue touring the city.

My first stop was the Great Library of Ingrasia, which deserved its name as the building alone took up an entire block of the tourist district. Upon entering the library, I handed over my guild ID, which guaranteed that I had access to all levels of the library, and then began my quest for knowledge. In this the Librarian was very useful, since it seems that just by placing my hands for a few seconds on a book, the Librarian could analyze said book and obtain a perfect copy of all the information contained in it.

The first thing I did was look up information about the mysterious island. As I flipped from book to book barely touching them, information filled my head.

The island, which apparently had no name, was not completely uninhabited. From what many of the books said, the island was commonly used as a base for Demon King Guy Crinsom's demons, who regularly raided northern Ingrasia. These demons hailed from the distant frozen continent where this Demon King ruled. The Kingdom of Ingrasia had tried to control the island many years ago, but between the threat of demons and sea monsters that affected travel to the island, they had given up.

Although it wasn't ideal to face a demon army or antagonize another Demon King, the island seemed to be our best option. And who knows, maybe the demons wouldn't mind sharing their territory.

Yea, right.

Once I finished investigating the island, I decided to search for spell books. And thanks to the great skills of the Librarian, I got new types of magic, in this case, Space Magic, Ice Magic, Life Magic, Preservation Magic, and Contract Magic.

From Space Magic, I learned three very useful spells: Warp Portal: which allowed me to teleport between two points in space. His usefulness was relative now that I had the "Spatial Domination" of the Grave Robber. Spatial Storage: This was the spell I found the most useful, as it allowed me to store items and other things in a sub-space like a pocket dimension. Dress Change: which allowed me to instantly change equipment with the equipment that I had saved in Spacial Storage. From Ice Magic I learned several spells that allowed me to freeze things or create ice. Life Magic was not very useful to me, since it allowed the cleansing of the body and the control of bodily functions. I was an undead creature, and although I ate for the simple pleasure of doing so, my body did not produce waste, rather everything I ate was transformed into energy, and for some reason every time I changed bodies, the new body was always clean and odor-free, other than that I could just take a shower before spending magic. Preservation magic allowed me to increase the duration of food and other things. And Contract Magic was used to force the terms of a contract between two people.

I spent the next three days going back to the library and learning about metallurgy, engineering, agronomy, and other important things I would need to know if I was going to turn the Dark Elf village into a prosperous nation.

Until on my fifth night in Lura I heard an interesting rumor in the tavern where I was staying.